[PGT] Rangers 5 - Flames 2 - bad times

[saillias]

It was easy to place the blame on Joey McDonald and Berra last year because they were letting in a lot of bad goals. And our forward depth was so putrid Westgarth and McGrattan played a regular shift. This was also the rookie season of Colborne, Byron and Bouma. That team had excuses to be bad... Now it's looking like maybe some of these guys that were rookies and had been given spots on that 2013-2014 team should probably re-earn their roster spots in competition with the prospects we have.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Cobra Jet

Also could be said for every Flames team (minus last year) for the last 10 years! Always a spending cap limit team with huge potential and sprinkle in some amazing goaltending and big wins and then always mediocre results at the end of the year. Its a broken record with this team, hard to not be upset with this team as a fan for these last 10 years.

For f sakes all we are asking for is some playoff games! Top 16 out of 30 should not be this tough! Really when you take a step back and look its very sad the owners, president, GM and everyone down can't get a team into the top 16. Truly sad.

Might be time to say goodbye Ken King.

LOL what?

[Cobra Jet]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

LOL what?

Coles notes;

Almost 10 years and no playoffs + Same excuses year after year = Had enough of being a fan of a loser team.

[Ashasx]

We're not even 2 years into our rebuild. Christ.

[Huntingwhale]

Originally Posted by Cobra Jet

Also could be said for every Flames team (minus last year) for the last 10 years! Always a spending cap limit team with huge potential and sprinkle in some amazing goaltending and big wins and then always mediocre results at the end of the year. Its a broken record with this team, hard to not be upset with this team as a fan for these last 10 years.

For f sakes all we are asking for is some playoff games! Top 16 out of 30 should not be this tough! Really when you take a step back and look its very sad the owners, president, GM and everyone down can't get a team into the top 16. Truly sad.

Might be time to say goodbye Ken King.

Flames lost to the Rags. Better fire KK!

[Cobra Jet]

Originally Posted by Huntingwhale

Flames lost to the Rags. Better fire KK!

The city of Calgary doesn't even know that the NHL has a post season!

Bottom 14 for years to come with this current regime

[Street Pharmacist]

Originally Posted by Cobra Jet

The city of Calgary doesn't even know that the NHL has a post season!

Bottom 14 for years to come with this current regime

And how should we get better, exactly? Isn't that precisely what this exercise is about?

[Poe969]

This team is too young! They need to trade away prospects, picks and younger players for vets who can help this team make the big push to 8th so we can see the playoffs!!


...What, that's what they did and it never worked out? And now they're just starting to recoup the prospects, picks and young players they would have had????? Well they're taking too long, this rebuild has taken waaaaaaaaaaaaaay too long!

....Wait, this is only year 2 of the rebuild? Well they're rushing younger players when they're not ready to play like last years first rounder shouldn't be playing!

....What do you mean they're not rushing prospects?? Well there aren't enough Vets on this team! They should trade away some of these young players for vets that can help this team get to the playoffs!

And repeat.

[Calgary4LIfe]

Cobra seems 3 years to late with his comments.

[belsarius]

Originally Posted by Cobra Jet

Coles notes;

Almost 10 years and no playoffs + Same excuses year after year = Had enough of being a fan of a loser team.

If by 10 years and no playoffs you mean 5... and if by the same excuses you mean finally stopped making excuses and started a rebuild two years ago.. and if by fan of a loser team you mean you cheer for the Oilers... then I agree with everything you just said!

[belsarius]

Originally Posted by Where ru Chris O'Sullivan

Mike Backlund scores most of his points in "garbage time", that never gets mentioned. GlenX creates and has scoring chances each and every game, he just hasn't buried them at his normal rate. But then again, it is an 82 game haul.

Game Winning Goals
Glencross: 19/127 - 15%
Backlund: 8/42 - 19%

Short Handed Goals
Glencross: 8/127 - 6.3%
Backlund: 4/42 - 9.5%

Power Play goals
Glencross: 23/127 - 18%
Backlund: 11/42 - 26%

Seems to me that Backlund's goals tend to be less "garbage time". Over half of his goals have been either winners or on special teams, the time when you need goals. This is by no means "scientific" because I am not going to dig up every goal for a perfect statistic, but it does illustrate that he is not a "garbage time" player.

I don't think either is more than a solid third liner that can fill in on the second line. Glencross is down a bit on his shooting % this year, but that is maybe 2-3 more goals he should have if he was burying them at his normal rate.. not exactly a giant slump.

[kevman]

I'd like to see some wins if for no other reason than to get some good discussion going again. A losing PGT is a painful test of internet patience.

Originally Posted by DOOM

We are not as bad as we have been over the past 6 games, but we were not nearly as good as we appeared to start the year.

I can't believe I'm agreeing with DOOM but this pretty much hit the nail on the head. Well except I'm a forever optimist so I'd change it to not nearly as bad as our recent skid.

0-6 hurts but if those losses were sprinkled among the wins we'd probably feel pretty good about this team and the progress it's made. ie, switch Chicago games and our record is the same but things don't feel so dire. While saying "we should have won that game" feels like a cop out looking back at the 6 game sample size and the general play not getting a point doesn't quite feel like a good indicator of the team.

Calgary has been making little (and big) mistakes all year. The problem lately is that EVERY mistake seems to end up in the back of the net.

[kevman]

Originally Posted by Cobra Jet

Coles notes;

Almost 10 years and no playoffs + Same excuses year after year = Had enough of being a fan of a loser team.

What do you suggest they do? Blow it up and get rid of all the young guys to get younger?

[tkflames]

I honestly think this is part of the growing pains of having a young team. In my opinion the team is playing some of their best hockey of the year as a cohesive unit which is especially noticeable in their transition game and offensive zone time/shots. However, many of the young players that are taking on more responsibility this year (Brodie, Russel, Gaudreau and others) are starting to make 1-2 mental mistakes and it has let some uncertainty drift into their game.

Russel has effectively put a couple of pucks into his own net over the last two weeks costing the team games and you can see the impact on his execution. You can tell that he is thinking too much about the plays he is about to make and it is leading to further mistakes.

Brodie had a couple of bad games (especially against Toronto) and since then what were perfect tape to tape back-handed passes from his off wing have ended up missing by 3-4' throwing off the whole rush. Other teams are also playing him much tougher in the corners now than they were earlier in the year. In the last 3-4 games there were several instances where rather than trying to win the puck from him they push him down in the corner and take the puck that way.

Gaudreau has now had two straight games where one of his plays in the offensive zone has end has ended up in his own net (it will be interesting to see how he responds).

How these players respond and find their game over the next week or so will say a lot about their development. Top teams like Chicago have short term losing streaks also, but they find a way to turn it around. This is the first real adversity that this group of young guys has faced and a big part of the learning process. I am just glad that they are facing this on the back of some very impressive play, a good identity and a late game resilience that hasn't been paralleled by a flames team in many years.

[kevman]

I also think last nights game showed that Calgary doesn't have a Rick Nash. Next game against the Stars might very well show that Calgary doesn't have a Tyler Seguin. At least not yet...

Nash buried his opportunities last night. The Flames did not.

[Tron_fdc]

We just got beat by a hot goalie and a team that figured out how to neutralize our Dmen with a hard 2 man forecheck.

Trons coles notes for those who care (not many, but whatever)

- Our goalie was average
- top lines had WAY too many giveaways
- bottom lines (once again) did f-all
- PP looked like it was coached by Rich Preston

Not rocket appliances here, people.

We HAVE to beat Dallas Friday, or we're really in trouble.

[DoubleK]

It looks/feels like the team has gotten comfortable being behind, having had success earlier in the season...

[Cobra Jet]

It still blows my mind that Stajan is on our Roster. Its like insanity that the flames signed him to his current contract and that they keep him around like they have. The guy has no up side. He's small, slow and bricks for hands. I would rather have a 4th line that are a bunch of grinders with some size, not another small line with less skill than the first 3 lines.

Anyone but Stajan please!!!

[crapshoot]

Originally Posted by Cobra Jet

It still blows my mind that Stajan is on our Roster. Its like insanity that the flames signed him to his current contract and that they keep him around like they have. The guy has no up side. He's small, slow and bricks for hands. I would rather have a 4th line that are a bunch of grinders with some size, not another small line with less skill than the first 3 lines.

Anyone but Stajan please!!!

What the... what? They just started playing a functional fourth line and now you want goons back?

[IamNotKenKing]

Originally Posted by Cobra Jet

It still blows my mind that Stajan is on our Roster. Its like insanity that the flames signed him to his current contract and that they keep him around like they have. The guy has no up side. He's small, slow and bricks for hands. I would rather have a 4th line that are a bunch of grinders with some size, not another small line with less skill than the first 3 lines.

Anyone but Stajan please!!!

Are you Kevin Lowe, trying to confuse and deflect? Or by your join date, are you Dallas Eakins, who now has a lot of time on your hands?